EDITION ONE, SEGMENT FOUR
In a fast evolving world of emoting through emoticons and emojis (surprise, surprise, there is a difference between the two), straightforward communication, in my opining is slowly taking a backseat. A popular saying tells us, a picture speaks a thousand words, but, but, but…an emoji or emoticon speaks of a thousand muddled possibilities. The amount of hidden meanings that can be unravelled through the folds of a tiny character baffles the brightest minds of our times. I can vouch for the countless ‘pleasant’ instances when I kept pressing my mind for definitive answers, while decoding texts riddled with these blessed icons. Well as to how those incidents ended, I prefer to maintain a stoic silence for the time being. Relevance and their appropriate use with reference to context, is a matter to be discussed only when we want to feel intimidated by the dominance and dependence of technology in our lives. Phew! Some other day, maybe…
However, for this time, we should turn to our classics and stories to contemplate how language bloomed and the ways of expressing oneself took new, original creative turns. The horizons of expressions and impressions were pushed to the zenith by masters of pens, only to be replaced by abbreviations and emojis in the next few centuries. Imagine the anguish of these authors! TMW (too much work) accomplished, only to be expressed by a few alphabets. If only there was a way of bringing sense and sensibility back into our conversations and lessen their turmoil to some extent….
Hang on a minute…of course there is…communicating well with words instead of hiding behind smileys! How simple it was to think of it, but executing the vision might be a tougher task. Or maybe it isn’t a Herculean task as it sounds. All we need is peek in the past to equip ourselves better and express articulately next time we come across another human mind. Of course sounding smart is a bonus, we all would find too hard to resist!
Here are some sayings from popular stories to begin with.
- Pied Piper– Who would have thought that a story about a legend in the town of Hamelin (Germany), about the injustice and revenge of rat catcher would help describe aspects of the society decades later. The Children’s and Household tales written by Grimm Brothers (1812), mentions this particular story and since then, the term ‘pied-piper’ has become a metaphor for people who attract a mass following through charisma or fake promises. Well, if one decides to write a meaningful satire, you know which phrase could come in handy.
- Frankenstein Monster– Mary Shelley didn’t just create a fascinating story (Frankenstein, 1818) about life, death and the aftermath of conscious choices, but also gave us some lessons to live by. First, try not to create something that will cause your own ruin or a Frankenstein’s Monster and second, it is always better to use the phrase in conversation rather than using its emoji. Alright, I would have made up the latter, but remember, it’s a golden rule to stick by.
- Burn the midnight oil– Ha! English poet Francis Quarles surely knew how to describe one of the favourite activities of the Gen Z, in his book Emblems back in 1634! I wonder how he knew; we love staying up late at night studying or working (or just scrolling), back in the day. I guess visionaries were too far sighted back then! Young people it is now your chance to eloquently explain how you love being a night owl!
- Catch-22- Before some of you get really excited as you recollect, this particular novel being read by the protagonist in the Hindi movie Tamasha (2015), let me remind you this book has been around since a long time. Since Joseph Heller used it, in his eponymous novel published in 1916, this phrase has been added in the vocabulary of English language to explain a situation of a paradox or contradicting conditions. So next time don’t feel too downcast, if you keep buying new books despite your unread pile getting higher, for if you don’t buy more, it would be difficult to read more and if you want to read more, it won’t be possible to do so, without buying more!
- Use your little grey cells- Mon ami, the only thing you would have done while reading Agatha Christie’s little Belgian detective Hercule Poirot solve mysteries, is reading him say this over and over again! Thinking and reasoning while solving mysteries or using his little grey cells, as Poirot would have said, is what made our childhood so memorable and our minds hungry for more thrillers.
As you finish reading this segment blog post, do make a conscious effort of involving literature in your everyday life. Let the emoji culture take a backseat (as popularized by William Makepeace Thackrey in his novel ‘Vanity Fair, 1848) and let’s return to expressing ourselves in the human language of love; literature!
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Until the next time,
Cheers!🌸
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